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Saturday, February 14, 2009

“Lepidoptera” today



I did a demonstration today at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden as part of their “Art at the Garden,” which includes an exhibition of nature-related works by some members of the Charlotte Quilters Guild. It was wonderful to talk with visitors to the garden, and to show them what we do and how we do it.

As my demo was on thread painting and machine quilting, I took my current work, “Lepidopera” and worked on it as I talked to people. Some of those who came through were traditional quilters, some were artists, and some had never quilted before. Many of them were surprised to see the art quilts, having never viewed quilts as art before. The men were surprisingly fascinated, especially when they realized that I was making the sewing machine stitch in different directions, and not just in a straight line.

I have just started outlining my pencil lines that define the color areas with dark blue thread. I can’t wait to get started on all the colored areas, but I need to stabilize the entire thing first by doing the outlines. I always love this stage, where the quilting turns the fabric into a quilt.





3 comments:

  1. This piece is just enchanting...I found myself hooked on it with all the lovely flowing lines of color, but now that texture is setting in, I'm in love! Please keep posting as you go-I'm getting a vicarious thrill as if I'm sitting at the machine watching this unfold!

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  2. Oh, you are so sweet, Patsy!
    I did a bit more of the dark blue threadwork tonight, just outlining the areas. I am very eager to start the threadwork inside these areas... I will have to decide how much to quilt; I'd like to have some of the areas pop up a bit, so I can't quilt everything heavily. I will post again once things start to look different!

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  3. I would echo Patsy's comments...it is just lovely!! Please keep the pictures coming. Watching the layers of how you do it to make it come "alive" is fascinating.

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